What is pure consciousness? In simplistic terms, it seems to be awareness of awareness. That is, it is not an awareness of the content of awareness such as being conscious of fish or trees or ideas, but an awareness of the awareness itself. As such, it would seem to be a distancing from the content of awareness—of the things that we think about—to the awareness itself. This detached awareness from experiences and ideas would give us the perspective to assess the substance of our thinking, to give us special insights into how we think, and perhaps more appropriately, to allow us to assess how we behave.
This complex subject is explored in “The Hunt for Pure Consciousness”, a book review by Alun Anderson of Thomas Metzinger’s The Elephant and the Blind (New Scientist April 27, 2024). Metzinger is a theoretical philosopher from the University of Mainz in Germany.
Anderson describes The Elephant and the Blind as a 600 page ponderous book based on the meditation experiences from over 500 people from 57 countries. In this regard, Metzinger claims that it is empirical. One of these people describes pure consciousness as “as pure presence [with] no thoughts, no physical sensations. A feeling of fullness and emptiness at the same time.” Another describes a condition in which “space is expanded and time no longer play[s] a role. There [is] pure being, a pure feeling of happiness.”
Pure consciousness, then, would seem to be the foundation or the basis of consciousness itself, without any connection to self, to others, to time or to space. It is consciousness without being filled with what we call thoughts.
Metzinger is clear that it is nothing special, “Yes,” he writes, “you do already know what this pure awareness thing is! Maybe you just never saw why it should be interesting… . Maybe you see the simplicity but not the profundity.” He quotes a Tibetan saying: “It is simply too close for us to see, too profound for us to fathom, too simple for us to believe, or even too good for us to accept.”
Metzinger says this consciousness is being overwhelmed as “social media and tech firms aim to maximize user engagement by creating even better attention sinks and developing pathological, addictive forms of media consumption.” Our attention is a resource, notes Alun Anderson in his review, and to get it they have to destroy our “mental autonomy—our ability to control the focus of our minds—ceding it to who-knows-what algorithm.”
As Anderson suggests, just consider our present environmental situation and “you can’t fail to conclude that our human consciousness itself needs an upgrade.”
Metzinger concludes that “everything points to the conclusion that humanity will fail in the face of this problem, and it will fail with its eyes open… . We will no longer be able to take ourselves seriously, for our behaviour does not change even when we clearly recognize that it must.”
Perhaps this kind of thinking comes closest to explaining the source of our environmental problems, and why we seem unable to address an unfolding crisis despite frequent warnings. Our consciousness is so overladen and busy, so occupied with self, image, fashion, possessions, technology, gadgets, information and distractions that we are unable to actually perceive what we are doing and what the consequences are likely to be.
Without a recognition and the acknowledgment of pure consciousness, everything else so occupies us that we have lost all sense of perspective. Materialism becomes the all. Consequently, we fail to recognize that the fundamental consciousness that we have may be obliterated by the illusory importance of all the thoughts that overlay and distract us from it.
Maybe, too, this explains why we don’t take corrective measures until the situation becomes so serious that we actually experience mortal danger—until the basis of our pure consciousness, of life itself, is being threatened. Or, as the 18th century lexicographer, writer and critic, Dr. Samuel Johnson said, “Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” We are approaching the gallows, but still don’t seem to have grasped the seriousness of our situation.
Pure consciousness might help. It would seem to be a thoughtless and selfless condition of awareness in which thoughts, self and behaviour can be experienced from a distance. This could give us special insights into who we are as individuals and as a species. Needless to say, words cannot explain this experience. But this condition of awareness may provide us with the requisite clarity and perspective that we need to comprehend and correct the destructive behaviour that is instigating the catastrophic environmental condition into which we are plunging ourselves and our planet.
Ray Grigg for Sierra Quadra
Top image credit: Meditation by breedingfra via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)